Friday, September 14, 2012

Fear of Walgreen's

Well, this week I overcame my fear of going to Walgreen's. And my fear of getting on the treadmill again. You see, the last time I went to Walgreen's on the Wednesday after Labor Day, my sister called and informed me that she had had a heart attack on Monday, Labor Day. My sister, who is in great health and has no risk factors for heart disease. Yeah, that sister. And she's not even old.

She had a spontaneous coronary artery dissection which caused her heart attack. You should Google that; there's a lot of interesting information. Turns out that spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is not discriminating. It has happened to people in all walks of life; active, sedentary, old and young. She had symptoms which prompted her to go to the emergency room and she had a cardiac catheterization and stent placement.

And this is why she wasn't at Mom's on Saturday. I just wanted to make sure she was okay with me writing about her before I wrote this.

I found something on the interwebs that described a coronary artery dissection in simple terms, and I thought it was interesting. It said to imagine that the lining of your coat has ripped on the inside under your armpit and you have a hole in the lining there. When you try to put on your coat, your arm goes between the lining and the fabric of the sleeve and your hand can't come out of the end of the sleeve because there's no opening. When that happens on the inside of your artery, the blood can't go where it's supposed to and your heart suffers for it. The stent puts pressure against the "lining" where the artery can heal, and the normal blood flow channel can resume. I am not sure if this was the exact scenario with my sister, but it's a pretty accurate description of coronary artery dissection.

I am so thankful that she is okay. I was sitting in the parking lot of Walgreen's when she told me. I was shocked, stunned, and got choked up. I only have one sister and one brother, and I'd like to keep them around, thankyouverymuch. She is now back to work and doing fine, praise the Lord, and I hope and pray that there will be no more incidents for her.

I realized that I kept making excuses for not getting on the treadmill after that. I was too busy, had too much work, hadn't gotten enough sleep, etc. Then this past Monday I realized that I didn't really have any excuses. I was afraid. I had to face that squarely and admit that I was afraid to run again. Jerry and I talked about things, and being the wise man that he is, he reminded me that living in fear is not living at all. I thought about Sherri, not even a week out from what she went through, and she was returning to work on that same Monday feeling fine. So, I got back to it and of course did just fine. I have logged 18.82 miles since Monday. And I'm still here to tell about it. If Sherri isn't afraid to go on with her life like normal, it makes me feel silly to be afraid! So I won't be.

Well, okay - I admit to slight trepidation going to Walgreen's, but I'll get over that!

Hope everyone has a great Friday. I intend to. Hubby is coming home today, the weather is supposed to be beautiful, and we don't have plans to travel, so we probably won't be running over small children this weekend. Life is good!